When I turned the guest room into our storage room, it meant I could clear a lot of boxes and other clutter from the girls’ playroom. They’ve shared a bedroom since F was a toddler, which has meant there’s been a spare room for (most of) their toys. They don’t actually play with a lot of toys anymore — just stuffed animals and doll accessories that they use with the plushies. So I was able to empty out quite a lot from the playroom.
It had already been housing a queen bed, ever since F traded the queen in for a twin (the girls used to have a twin-over-queen bunk). So once the room was tidied up and had a nice bed in it… it looked a lot like a bedroom. My plan was to keep it like that, and then, if a rare overnight guest should emerge from the woods, we could sweep away the toys and let them sleep in there. Convenient!
But F saw the room, and all her wildest dreams unfolded in front of her eyes. She loves to think and talk about what her house will be like when she grows up, and for months she’s been wishing she had a room of her own to decorate. I *had* pointed out to her (multiple times) that this could easily be achieved if she and M stopped sharing a room, but I guess that wasn’t appealing until she saw it IRL.
To be honest, I thought that if either girl were ready to start sleeping away from the main bedrooms, it would be M, who turns ten next month. F is seven and can still be quite a young seven at times, but once she’d made her mind up, that was that. Well, actually, she told me that she’d give it ten days, and if she still liked sleeping there after that time, she’d THEN start moving more of her belongings into the room. Quite sensible!
But she really wanted a dresser in the room, so I wheeled in the one from the guest (now storage) room. She wants her clothes in it, but I don’t sort between hers and M’s — they wear the same size, though not many of the same items. I told her I didn’t want that extra task (separating her clothes from M’s) added to my laundry chores, and she said SHE would take over washing and folding them because she’s “ready for more responsibility”. I’m highly skeptical, but you never know!
Luckily, “decorating” seems to mostly consist of putting things where she wants them, NOT painting over that triangle wall! I suppose it won’t last forever, but I’d be really sad to see it go.